Disney+ signups triple as America quarantines from school, work

As more Americans hunker down and isolate during the Coronavirus outbreak, they’re apparently turning to streaming TV to keep the kids occupied.

According to new numbers, Disney+ saw triple the signups during the week of March 14 to March 21 than the week before.

A large portion of this can likely be attributed to the fact that an unprecedented number of children aren’t in school at the moment and families are spending a lot more time together, but also to Disney dropping certain movies early (like Frozen II and Onward).

Now, in all fairness,almost every streaming service saw an increase in signups – HBO Now almost doubled, Showtime saw 78% gains, and Netflix saw a 47% increase – but none saw an increase like Disney+. It makes sense that Netflix wouldn’t have huge gains given their already massive subscriber base, but a nearly 50% increase in signups is still substantial.

The sudden boom in subscriptions comes at a good time for Disney. Like almost all other theme parks, they chose to close their parks for at least a month in early March. And as most movie theaters are closed as well, it’s not a good time for the box office. While the mouse house certainly isn’t hurting for money, any good financial news is welcome at this point.

It’ll be interesting to see if the gains continue as the quarantines continue.